


as above, so below

by elenathehun



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Medical Torture, Prisoner of War, Sealing, Valley of the End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenathehun/pseuds/elenathehun
Summary: Mito captures and seals Madara at the Valley of the End.  She's not very nice about it - not then, and not later.
Relationships: Uchiha Madara & Uzumaki Mito
Kudos: 21





	as above, so below

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theroadkillcafe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theroadkillcafe/gifts).



The first time she tends to her prisoner, it’s a spare four days after Madara’s inopportune return. Mito’s belly no longer burns, which is more than some parts of the village can say. She won’t forgive him for that. In that, her husband and she are as one mind.

It’s for that reason that she _rips_ Madara out the slowly-smoldering scroll she’d originally sealed him into, and just as quickly shoves him into the black iron tea kettle she’d hastily re-purposed for just this task.

He doesn’t even have time to scream out loud. The kettle starts steaming, but there is no tell-tale sound of metal warping. Good. She’s bought herself another few months before she has to handle this pest in a more permanent manner. Rebuilding the wards around Konoha is the highest priority at this time. Whatever else can keep, _will_ keep.

Mito leaves the kettle on a corner of her desk next to her ink tray, slaps the stray sparks out before they can do more than mar the lacquer veneer, and moves on to the next task on an ever-growing list.

* * *

The kettle holds together for a week shy of three months - longer than Mito had expected, given Madara’s hateful burning chakra. Tobirama is practically foaming at the mouth to take custody of the body, but Mito has no intention of releasing her prisoner just yet. Tobirama, impatient child that he is, will just have to amuse himself with those students he’s taken on. That should occupy him for a few years, at least.

Mito intends to take all the time she needs for this next task, and here, in the underground chamber she’d prepared specifically for this task, she has all the time and assistance she needs. The entire cell is tiled from ceiling to floor, and each tile is inscribed with a master seal for containment - both within and without. 

That master seal was her first masterwork, when she was a girl. It elevated her above her siblings and cousins and brought her to the attention of the man she married. It has never failed her yet.

She pulls Madara out slowly this time, ensuring the re-materialization is precise and Madara’s body lands exactly as planned on the mosaic floor, the seals inlaid into the tile activating as his body lands on the floor. At the end of it, he’s lying spread-eagled, naked as the day he was born, and twice as angry. Understandable: most shinobi greatly dislike the sensation of complete paralysis..

“Madara,” Mito says, ensuring her enunciation is perfect. “I know it’s been awhile, but surely you remember the Lady Bunko, of the Akimichi Clan?”

He snarls at her, still as incandescently angry as he was a season ago, riding toward the village on a creature that should have stayed hidden far away from humanity. He didn’t impress her then; he doesn’t impress her now. 

“No? A shame,” Mito says. “ I do believe her to be the best surgeon in the village, even above Tobirama.”

Bunko, as tall and plump as the rest of her kin, merely kneels over Madara’s head and places her hands at his temple. He loses consciousness in seconds, as deftly as Mito had said. She is not inclined to false flattery when it comes to the skills of her closest associates.

“Well, the good news is that my earlier estimate for extraction still applies,” Bunko said quietly, voice barely reaching Mito’s ears.

“And the bad news?” Mito prompts, more gently than her general wont.

“No bad news,” Bunko said, a sweet smile crinkling the tattoos on her cheeks. “I should be done in three hours. Will you remain for the procedure, or return when it’s complete?”

“Remain,” Mito decides. “Madara has an unpleasant habit of exceeding ordinary expectations. I won’t have him do so again. Proceed with the extraction; I will stand watch until the end.”

* * *

Bunko is finished well within the estimated time. Madara’s eyes are sealed away in a glass tablet inscribed with the strongest seals Mito can create for both preservation and protection. Madara himself will survive the enucleation, at least as far as Bunko can tell. He’s going to get the best medical care on the continent, at least until the point when all viable information has been extracted from his feeble brain - Mito will accept nothing less.

“I’ll follow up on him in six hours,” Bunko says, offering the glass tablet to Mito. “Do you want me to revive him, or will you wait for him to awaken naturally?”

Mito thinks for a moment on either path, before taking the tablet from Bunko’s hands and sealing it within one of the tags hanging from her bound hair. “Revive him, please. My second will escort you to the exit. You’re free to come and go as necessary for this task.”

Bunko nods, and revives Madara in short order. He tries to play dead at first - old habits die hard - but Bunko is experienced in all the ways people try to fool medics. A quick sternum rub by the younger woman is all that’s necessary to rouse Madara back to rage, and she slips away from him and around Mito until she reaches the door to the cell. 

“Bunko,” Mito says, right as the other woman lays one capable hand on the lock. “I thank you for your service to the Hidden Leaf.”

Bunko nods seriously, saluting a final time before exiting the room. Mito settles back to wait Madara out.

* * *

It takes less time than she thought it would. Apparently, Madara is _familiar_ with the sensation of enucleation. That’s something to think on, later. He calms down quickly after he realizes what’s been done to him, and for the first time in a long time, seems more like the man she’d known…five years ago, perhaps. Before Tobirama had slain Izuna, and Hashirama had _made_ the Uchiha bow their stubborn necks. Hashirama had such _hopes_ for him in those days.

So much for all of that.

“How did you release the Nine-Tails?” Mito asks, as mild as milk. 

No answer. She hadn’t expected one, really.

“It doesn’t matter if you ignore me, Madara,” she says calmly. “I’ll learn the answer eventually, one way or the other.”

He snarls at her, as expected. Still so utterly predictable. “You know _nothing_ of the power I hold-”

“What power?" She asks, finally moving around him in a clockwise pattern. The susurrus of her robes could be quite…distracting, especially to a man whose greatest sense was lost to him. He can only rely on sound and smell and taste and touch. But not sight. Never again. "I have your _eyes_ , Madara, and without that, you are nothing more than a man. But go ahead and tell me: what power do you hold aside from that?”

He opens his mouth, then closes it. The muscles in his jaw flex as he grinds his teeth. Mito nods, and kneels at his head, close enough that her breath creeps across his face. “So there is something. Good. I wouldn’t like to think I’ve wasted my time and capital on preserving your worthless hide. So know this, Madara: in the months to come, I will learn everything there is to know about your betrayal.”

He jerks at that, hissing, and Mito tastes something. Something foreign, something more akin to her husband’s sense of _earth-water-death_ than the more straight-forward sense of _ash_ the Uchiha all carry. She never used to be able to taste chakra, but many things have changed since Madara rode the Nine-Tails into war, and that is one of them. But it’s not urgent. Just something else to think on, and maybe to pass on to Takara, when the other woman takes over the interrogation. She leans over even further to whisper directly into his left ear.

“Before I leave you, Madara, I want you to remember that for all your vaunted sight, you never saw _me_. Otherwise, you would have known to _never_ bring the Nine-Tails within my grasp. I’ve wrenched it from your control, and your eyes as well. But I am not without mercy: a tree is nothing without strong roots, Madara. I intend to see that the Hidden Leaf develops strong ones. In time, you will understand this. Even you still have a part to play in Hashirama’s grand peace.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr prompt](https://elenathehun.tumblr.com/post/622320980688273408/challenge-mito-sealing-madara-in-some-fashion) from theroadkillcafe: _Challenge! Mito sealing Madara in some fashion during or just post the events of VotE (including but not limited to - sealing his eyes, his chakra, or him inside of herself). Bonus points for world building._
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this response ;)


End file.
